Austria: Kurz wants new EU asylum policy

vienna - The new Federal Chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, wants a completely new refugee policy for the European Union. He chooses a party for Hungary and Poland. 'Member States have to decide for themselves whether and how many people they will receive', says the 31-year-old conservative politician in Bild am Sonntag.

The brand new Chancellor argues for a change of course in the European refugee policy: according to him, the distribution of migrants in the EU according to fixed quotas is a mistake. 'Forcing states to accept refugees does not help Europe,' says Kurz. 'If we continue to follow this path, we will only divide the European Union further. ''

In September 2015, the EU's ministers for home affairs had decided to distribute 120 000 asylum seekers within the EU according to a quota system, despite opposition from Eastern European countries. But the project is currently stalling because the distribution of asylum seekers to quotas must also be anchored in the new asylum system.